Waycobah Community Centre destroyed by blaze

WAYCOBAH — The Waycobah Community Centre was levelled in a Monday afternoon blaze that caught the First Nation community completely by surprise.

According the Waycobah Chief Rod Googoo, a passerby noticed smoke coming from the roof of the building at about 2 p.m., and a short time later the structure had burned to the ground.

The community centre had been closed for the holiday on Monday and no one was in the building when the fire broke out.

"It was an unfortunate day for us," said Googoo. "The building is a total loss."

Units from the Waycobah and Whycocomagh volunteer fire departments fought the blaze in a building that was contructed in 1967 as a Canadian centennial year project. Since then, the community had added some extensions to the original structure that, according to Googoo, had become the "heart and soul" of Waycobah.

"There were a lot of functions that took place there over the years, and now it's gone," said Googoo. "A lot of people were married there, there were baptisms and parties — a lot of things took place there.

"But no one got hurt, and that's all that matters. We'll just rebuild. That's all we can do.